


The Mechanic

by spacekinney



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-28
Updated: 2019-04-28
Packaged: 2020-02-08 14:52:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18625489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spacekinney/pseuds/spacekinney
Summary: After the Decimation, Harley Keener takes care of his mom. And his boyfriend. And Rose Hill. Frankly, he's a little sick of taking care of people.One person might be able to change that, though.





	The Mechanic

**Author's Note:**

> Major Avengers: Endgame spoilers below!

The last time Harley had seen Peter, he’d been younger. Not just younger than he was now, of course that was true—but younger than Peter _himself_. That phenomenon was something he would never get used to.

And this, of course. But Harley was adamantly _not_ thinking about what was going on right in front of him. If he did—if he lost it, in front of the host of Avengers surrounding him—he would never live that down. Especially now that he was older than Peter, and feeling the ridiculous notion that he needed to take care of the now-younger man.

Although, the notion probably was not as ridiculous as Harley was feeling in the moment. That had been his role in the past five years, hadn’t it? Take care of Mom. Take care of Nate. Take care of Rose Hill. Take care of Jeff, two houses over, who’d lost his only living kid. Take care of Miss Porter and her flower shop that was always on the brink of going out of business. With half the flowers on the planet gone, and the remaining people never really in the mood to buy flowers, Harley understood the struggle. Nate was probably sick of Harley giving him flowers at this point, but he’d never say.

The only person Harley never had to take care of was Tony. With Mr. Stark, it had been the opposite. For the past decade, Harley’s family had no longer been poor. He’d been admitted to MIT without even applying, and although it had broken his mom’s heart, she had understood why Harley opted to stay at home and open their garage to Rose Hill instead. Without Dave to run the local auto shop, people had nowhere to fix their cars. So he offered to fix Miss Porter’s car one day, and she had sung his praises long enough to make him the go-to fix-it guy of the town. The mechanic. And what started as an after-school gig evolved into his own auto shop, financed by the one and only Iron Man.

Harley would take short breaks to Mr. Stark’s cabin, of course. Never too long, as the town needed him. But visiting Mr. Stark and Miss Pepper, and getting to see Morgan, and just being treated like a goddamn _kid_ with a loving, proud father, was a part of his life Harley would never abandon.

Except now…

Harley blinked rapidly to clear his head and try to dispel the tears gathering in his eyes. He refocused on the scene in front of him: Steve Rogers had just stepped away from the dock. Shit, that meant Peter was next. And Harley was after that. “Mr. Stark,” Peter began, voice barely shaking. Harley briefly wondered for the thousandth time what it was like to disappear entirely from existence, and how strong someone had to be to _come back from that_. Even being Spider-Man couldn’t have prepared him for this.

“Mr. Stark, I just wanna thank you. I...I’ve had so much fun learning from you and I really hoped it would never end. I’m lucky, actually, that I was chosen for the Stark Internship.” A few soft, single laughs could be heard from the crowd, and Harley smirked. It didn’t last long though, as Peter continued talking. “Thank you for showing me what it means to be a hero. I hope I can make you proud.”

Harley felt his eyes growing moist again, before he realized that Peter was done. He’d stepped back and returned to his aunt, who embraced him in a tight hug. Suddenly, everything was moving too fast. Harley’s heart was beating too rapidly, and those who stood near the front of the crowd began turning back towards him to see who would be speaking next.

Harley inhaled deeply, and held his breath as he walked to the front.

When he reached the dock, with no one in front of him, he squeezed his eyes shut. He thought back ten years. It felt like a lifetime ago.

In spite of himself, and the situation, and everything, Harley smiled to himself. He had been so young back then. “Mr. Stark,” he found himself saying, “I know you hated every second that you spent in Tennessee.” He opened his eyes, letting the tears blur his vision. “I know I was the annoying kid who almost shot you with a potato gun when you broke into my garage. I know that I was too starstruck by the fact that I got to talk to _Iron Man_ to make any kind of a good first impression. Or second impression. Or third.” The same smattering of laughter that Peter had gotten returned for Harley’s quip. “But for some reason none of that mattered to you. When you left Rose Hill, I thought you were gone. You had bad guys to fight. And I...I’d had dads leave before. There was no need for me to be a pussy about it.

“But you didn’t. The next day, I had a whole garage filled with sweet toys and gadgets. And two months later, you came back. And you did that again and again and again.” Harley sniffed loudly, suddenly no longer worried about the superstar audience behind him. “You were the best dad a kid could ever dream of. And I know you’re not with us anymore, but you’re still here. I know that. You wanna know how I know?” Harley smiled at his own inside joke, the tears running freely down his face now.

“Because we’re connected.”

* * *

 

Not even an hour later, after Miss Pepper and Colonel Rhodes and Happy had all said their goodbyes, Harley lingered at the back of the crowd. He’d arrived first, and as such, his car was the highest on the driveway, which meant that he had to wait for everyone else to leave before he could. He was currently watching two of the guests that he didn’t recognize argue about which one of them got to drive when Miss Pepper approached him.

“You spoke well,” she said, which Harley couldn’t help but smile at.

“It was nothing. Especially compared to yours,” he reassured her.

Miss Pepper returned his expression with one of her soft, kind grins. “You know you’re always welcome to stay the night.”

Almost immediately, Harley shook his head. House guests were the last thing she needed right now. Plus, he had work to do. “I don’t want to intrude.”

“Morgan would love it.” At Miss Pepper’s words, Harley looked towards the house, where Morgan and Happy shared a bench. The sight of five-year-old Morgan dressed in all black to mourn the death of her father—despite probably not comprehending it—pulled Harley’s heart so strongly he couldn’t resist.

“Only if you let me cook dinner.”

Miss Pepper’s smile was grateful in ways Harley had never seen on her. She was so emotionally strong and resilient, and Harley couldn’t imagine everything she was going through. When he had walked into the kitchen to see his sister right where she had disappeared, he had been ecstatic. It was all fixed!

Not all. Not everything. Maybe the Decimation had been undone, but humanity had paid the price. It was unfair to Miss Pepper and Morgan to give up so much, even if the sacrifice their family had paid saved the universe.

So Harley put a stupid, reckless grin on his face, and jogged to the house, careful not to rip his formal clothes. “Hey Morgan!” he called out, and the little girl perked up. “Wanna play tag?”

Suddenly, Morgan’s eyes shone brightly, and she hopped off the bench. Happy called after her, something about getting her dress dirty, but she was already running towards Harley. He dodged her attempts a few times before pretending to trip and falling down in a theatrical manner so that he laid on his back. “Tag! You’re it!” Morgan giggled as she climbed on his chest.

Harley put his head back and laughed. Morgan’s smile was contagious despite all that had happened. “You caught me!” he exclaimed.

“Yeah! I caught you!” Harley sat up and swiftly picked up Morgan in his arms as he moved to a standing position. “Mommy!” Morgan called to Miss Pepper. “I caught Harley! I caught the mechanic!”

Harley grinned. Maybe taking care of people—especially the daughter of the man who had taken care of him—wasn’t such a bad thing.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone! This is my first fic so please let me know what you think. :)


End file.
